About President Kennedy

Over the years in the history of America, there have been various persons who have tried to attain success at the expense of other people only to be hit hard by resounding failures. One such failure that stands out is that of President John F. Kennedy with his planned Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. The Invasion constituted a failed attempt that was aimed at overthrowing the then Cuban president, Fidel Castro. This Bay of Pigs invasion was initially a plan of President Dwight D. Eisenhower whose reign preceded that of President Kennedy. President Eisenhower approved a program that was aimed at training the Cuban exiles in 1960, which allowed the CIA to set up training camps in Guatemala. He never got a chance to actualize the plan to overthrow President Castro but his successor, President Kennedy, took over the campaign and oversaw its attempted implementation.

There were many reasons that led President Kennedy to support the Bay of Pigs Invasion. One of the reasons was the fact that he intended to demonstrate his powers to the then eastern superpowers, like the Soviet Union and China. The Bay of Pigs Invasion occurred at the peak of the cold war, a period when every nation wanted to demonstrate its superiority. It is no doubt that President Kennedy saw the removal of President Castro from power as a perfect way of showing the eastern powers what he could do since the later had developed ties with the Soviet Union. The invasion was, however, not entirely down to the need to demonstrate powers but was also triggered by the measures that President Castro had taken to reduce American dominance in Cuba. President Castro had introduced land reform schemes that did not favor America and also, nationalized industries dominated by Americans, like mining.

A number of flaws in the plan allowed a word to reach President Castro who then had time to mastermind a counterattack before the invasion. Firstly, the presence of guerrilla training camps for Cuban exiles in Guatemala did not go unnoticed among the Cuban intelligence officers who in turn relayed the information to President Castro. The Cuban intelligence officers were alerted of the presence of the training camps in Guatemala from the comprehensive press coverage of the situation in Guatemala. It, therefore, follows, that the leakage of the activities in the training camps to the media was one of the flaws. Another flaw in the plan of the invasion was the fact that the CIA reconnaissance team in the Cuban Southern shore or rather the Bay of Pigs failed to notice a certain radio station on the beach. The Bay of Pigs being the initial landing point for the troops of Cuban exiles saw the invasion broadcasted at the initial stages before it even started courtesy to the radio station on the beach.

Looking at the failure, one can conclude that there were several ways in which the failure could have been avoided. For one, President Kennedy should have abandoned his desire to demonstrate his power and sought a peaceful resolution of the conflict between him and the Cuban president, Castro. Peaceful negotiation over the drastic measures taken against the US by President Castro could have been more productive since it could have shown President Kennedys commitment to protecting international relations. Secondly, President Kennedy should have sought other ways of demonstrating his power to the eastern superpowers of the 1960s rather than attacking Cuba due to its relations with the Soviet. He should have resorted to such measures as boycotting the Soviets products. However, in a case where the invasion was inevitable, President Kennedy should have considered a more secretive place for setting up the guerrilla training camps. It was imperative that he kept the media in the dark about the activities of the training camps if he needed success.

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